Lown Community Health Centers

We are applying because our motivations, at the Lown Community Health Centers (LCHCs), are aligned with the principles behind the Elevate prize: sustainable impact that can be scaled to larger communities and populations. More specifically, we believe that our mission to provide affordable high-quality primary healthcare services for underserved populations worldwide as a social business needs support from the Elevate prize for funding, mentorship and networking.

The LCHC is comprised of global healthcare experts and business professionals who have spent years refining this model to improve health and wellbeing in underserved populations. Sustainable provision of primary health care services will also reduce health inequalities and improve economic productivity.

We hope to use the Elevate prize funding and support for establishing 2 new primary healthcare centers in East Africa (Tanzania and Kenya) along with expanding our Health and Management Information System (HMIS) to develop a mobile-friendly version. The Lown Scholars Program (LSP) at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, will convene the Global Coordinating Center for the LCHCs which have the following roles: managing the execution of this initiative, facilitating training and uptake of SOPs and HMIS, and conducting Monitoring and Evaluation studies.

LCHCs carry the name of Dr. Bernard Lown, an internationally renowned cardiologist, peace activist and professor emeritus at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. LCHC is the latest evolution of the Bernard Lown Scholars in Cardiovascular Health, a training program at the School for mid-career public health scientists and professionals from low- and middle-income countries. 

 Our mission is to provide high-quality affordable primary health care services to underserved populations worldwide. By 2023, LCHC network will have 7 active and financially sustainable primary health care centers in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. Our purpose is to create awareness and bring benefit to the communities through our expertise all while making a surplus to expand the work to other communities and countries. 

The idea is to prove, once and for all, that primary health care for the poor can be sustained and managed by the poor. Our services will save families and communities from catastrophic health expenditures which are driving hundreds of millions to poverty each year. This will be accomplished by reducing the need for expensive and often inaccessible tertiary care by increasing awareness and prevention at the community level.

Half of the world population does not have access to essential primary health care. Consequently, about 930 million people worldwide are at risk of falling into poverty due to out-of-pocket health spending of 10% or more of their household budget. Scaling up primary health care interventions across low- and middle-income countries could save 60 million lives and increase average life expectancy by 3.7 years by 2030.

We plan to fill this gap by providing high-quality and affordable primary health care services under a social business model. We achieve this by establishing and operating centers that provide services to underserved populations which are financially sustainable and therefore scalable.

To become financially sustainable, our centers will charge a monthly fee of 1 or 2 US dollars per person. Paying members will receive unlimited free visits and a substantial discount on cost of medicines and diagnostic tests. Quality will be ensured through standard clinical guidelines and monitoring using a state-of-the-art Health and Management Information System (HMIS). 

The 7 centers we plan on establishing by 2023 in Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda will provide affordable and quality primary healthcare services to a population of almost 350,000 people.

Healthcare as a service is available in two modes in low- and middle-income countries: for-profit businesses that provide quality healthcare at high prices or subsidized often low-quality healthcare by Governments or nonprofit organizations. Not-for-profit medical providers providing quality healthcare are dependent on donor funding for sustainability. 

The LCHC model is designed to make quality primary healthcare accessible for and sustained by the underserved communities.

When the first centers achieve financial stability, we aim to expand our target population to include the poorest of the poor who may not be able to afford even modest premiums. This can be accomplished by cross-subsidizing the premiums through attracting more paying members or by raising additional funds through donations or crowdfunding.

We also expect to have a large impact on brain drain. In the past few decades, the health care workers have immigrated in droves from low-and-middle-income countries to high-income countries. There are now more Ghanaian doctors in the US than in Ghana. In our business plans, we have budgeted for a competitive salary for all personnel and we plan to have frequent feedback and opportunities for learning and promotion.

Primary healthcare centers are essential for basic health services and yet, half of the world’s population can not access primary healthcare services. In many developing countries, wherever available, public primary healthcare centers largely focus on maternal and child health and are often ill-equipped to manage the now more common chronic non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

The LCHC model solves this problem globally by marrying a microinsurance scheme with a detailed set of Standard Operating Procedures and a state-of-the-art HMIS to ensure high-quality affordable primary care.

Planning for the entire LCHC initiative has been guided by detailed need assessment surveys and market research in underserved communities. These exercises have resulted in a detailed business plan for each center. Based on our detailed financial plans, we will be able to open a new center in each of the seven initial communities within 4-5 years using the surplus from the first center. Hence, support for every center will lead to a new center. The LCHCs will serve as laboratories for research to design, develop, and test low-cost and scalable solutions for preventing disease and improving health and will serve as engines for social justice by preventing families from falling into poverty.